Growing Olive in Australia: The Complete Guide
Olive is an easy vine fruit to grow, needing full sun with low once established, drought-tolerant watering.
We get asked about olive often enough that it's worth setting out the full picture here, beyond what fits on our printable card.
Built for dry conditions
Olives are among the most drought-tolerant fruiting trees suited to Australian conditions — once established, they need remarkably little supplementary water.
Planting Olive
Method — plant from a potted tree. Soil — free-draining, tolerates poor and alkaline soils well. Timing — plant in spring or autumn.
Day-to-Day Care
A few things matter most here:
- Water regularly for the first 1–2 years, then reduce significantly.
- Prune in late winter/early spring to maintain an open shape.
- Feed lightly once a year, if at all — olives cope well in lean soil.
- Fruit must always be cured before eating — never eaten fresh off the tree.
Common Problems
The key things to get right:
- Olive lace bug — stippled, discoloured leaves; generally manageable, encourage predators.
- Fruit fly — net or manage as fruit develops.
- Peacock spot — leaf spotting in humid climates; improve airflow.
- Poor fruiting in overly rich soil or with too much water — olives generally prefer lean, dry conditions.
When and How to Harvest
Signs — green olives: full size, still green. Black olives: fully coloured and slightly soft. Method — hand-pick or lay nets and shake branches gently. Curing — requires curing in brine or lye before eating — never eaten straight off the tree. Storage — cured olives keep for months in brine; oil pressing is a separate process.
That's the full picture behind olive. The printable A4 version of this guide — with the quick-reference gauges and diagram in one page — is available on the main guide page below.